US5147046A - Gravity separation method using iron powder - Google Patents

Gravity separation method using iron powder Download PDF

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Publication number
US5147046A
US5147046A US07/559,307 US55930790A US5147046A US 5147046 A US5147046 A US 5147046A US 55930790 A US55930790 A US 55930790A US 5147046 A US5147046 A US 5147046A
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United States
Prior art keywords
specific gravity
iron powder
liquid
separation
sink
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Expired - Fee Related
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US07/559,307
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Masamichi Hata
Manabu Futamata
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KYUSYUMETAL INDUSTRY Co Ltd A CORP OF JAPAN
Kyushu Metal Industry Co Ltd
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Kyushu Metal Industry Co Ltd
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Assigned to KYUSYUMETAL INDUSTRY CO., LTD., A CORP OF JAPAN reassignment KYUSYUMETAL INDUSTRY CO., LTD., A CORP OF JAPAN ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. Assignors: FUTAMATA, MANABU, HATA, MASAMICHI
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    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B5/00—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating
    • B03B5/28—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation
    • B03B5/30—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation using heavy liquids or suspensions
    • B03B5/44—Application of particular media therefor
    • B03B5/442—Application of particular media therefor composition of heavy media
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B03—SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS; MAGNETIC OR ELECTROSTATIC SEPARATION OF SOLID MATERIALS FROM SOLID MATERIALS OR FLUIDS; SEPARATION BY HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRIC FIELDS
    • B03B—SEPARATING SOLID MATERIALS USING LIQUIDS OR USING PNEUMATIC TABLES OR JIGS
    • B03B5/00—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating
    • B03B5/28—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation
    • B03B5/30—Washing granular, powdered or lumpy materials; Wet separating by sink-float separation using heavy liquids or suspensions

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a gravity separation method using iron powder for performing sink-float separation of metals, ores and the like by using a specific gravity liquid in which iron powder is mixed and suspended.
  • Gravity separation methods have been industrially used in which suspensions of fine particles of solids in water, listed below, which are relatively inexpensive, easily available and have substantially no toxicity are formed. These are adjusted to have a given specific gravity so as to be used in gravity separation, solids as ores being placed in these liquids and used for sink-float separation therein.
  • the upper limit of the specific gravity of a liquid which can be formed by this method depends upon the specific gravity of the fine solid particles serving as a medium and the ratio of water mixed therewith, any increase in the ratio of the fine particles mixed with the water causes the viscosity of the liquid to be increased.
  • precise sink-float separation even of particles having sizes of 5 to 6 mm is difficult, and in practice the upper limit of the ratio of the fine particles mixed with the water is 40% by volume. Therefore, the upper limit for the specific gravity of a gravity liquid which can be formed by a medium of the type that generally used is 2.6 to 2.8 at most, and it is difficult to form a liquid having a specific gravity higher than this limit and yet having a low viscosity.
  • the engine blocks of automobiles contain portions made of aluminum alloy having a specific gravity reaching 3.15, while the true specific gravity of pure aluminium itself is 2.6.
  • the specific gravity liquid formed by using a medium of the type generally used is unsatisfactory as a specific gravity liquid for use in sink-float separation of aluminium alloy, and such a specific gravity liquid cannot be easily formed.
  • the present invention has been achieved with a view to solving the above-described problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a gravity separation method which uses iron powder and which is capable of precise sink-float separation of aluminium alloy or the like using a specific gravity liquid having high specific gravity and yet low viscosity.
  • a gravity separation method using iron powder of the present invention is characterized by mixing and suspending the iron powder composed of fine particles having a size of 40 microns or less in water to form a specific gravity liquid with a specific gravity of at least 2.6 up to 3.5 depending upon the intended use, and by pouring the various raw materials to be treated such as metals, ores and the like into the specific gravity liquid formed so that the raw materials are subjected to sink-float separation.
  • iron powder which is produced by steel works and which is composed of fine particles having a size of 40 microns or less is mixed and suspended in water contained in a water bath for the purpose of separating and recovering aluminum or an alloy thereof from scrap derived from automobiles, domestic appliances or the like, or an ore, to form a specific gravity liquid with, for example, a specific gravity of about 2.6 to be used for recovering aluminium or a specific gravity liquid with a specific gravity of 3.15 or more and low viscosity to be used for recovering aluminium alloy.
  • the scrap of automobiles etc. or ore is poured into the specific gravity liquid formed so that the aluminium alloy with a specific gravity of about 3.15 or other non-ferrous metals with specific gravities lower than this value can be separated and recovered as floated product.
  • the iron powder composed of fine particles having a size of 40 microns or less is used to form a specific gravity liquid with a specific gravity of 2.6 or more, depending upon the intended use, and various raw materials such as metals or ores are poured into the specific gravity liquid formed so as to subject these raw materials to sink-float separation. Therefore, it is possible to highly precisely separate aluminium or an alloy thereof which has a higher specific gravity from the shredded scrap of automobiles or domestic appliances, and to separate out substances which cannot be generally separated by conventional methods.
  • the invention offers the remarkable effect that sink-float separation can be effected precisely.
  • FIG. 1 shows the production process of a Fe 3 O 4 coated steel powder
  • FIG. 2 shows an X-ray analysis of the powder produced by the process of FIG. 1.
  • An example of the present invention uses an iron powder, which is composed of carbon steel and which has the following physical properties, as the medium for forming a liquid having a high specific gravity and low viscosity:
  • the height of the clear water produced in 5 minutes is 10% or less of the height of a specific gravity liquid, and the settling speed of the iron powder in water is not so high.
  • FIG. 1 shows a production process for producing Fe 3 O 4 coated steel powder.
  • the main raw material used in this process is mill scale.
  • the mill scale is provided at 102 in FIG. 1 and dried at 106.
  • Coke powder, which serves as the reducing material is provided at 104 and dried at 108.
  • the dried mill scale and coke is provided into an apparatus 110 which is used to load these materials into a sagger 112.
  • the mill scale and coke powder are vertically arrange in layers and inserted into the sagger, as shown in the drawing.
  • the sagger is placed in a tunnel kiln 114 having a reducing environment and a temperature of approximately 1000° C. The temperature of the tunnel kiln should be less than the melting point of the scale.
  • the mill scale is reduced in the tunnel kiln in a few hours.
  • the sagger is taken from the furnace after the reduction is complete at which time the temperature of the powder is approximately 800° C.
  • the powder is cooled to a temperature of approximately 400° C. to 600° C. outside of the furnace at 116. Since the outside of the furnace is subjected to outside air, i.e. an oxidate environment, the surface of the iron powder is oxidized and a coating film of Fe 3 O 4 is formed thereon.
  • the powder is sequentially crushed and classified by blowing at 118 and separated magnetically at 120 to produce a high quality powder which can be utilized as a heavy liquid separating medium having optimum grain size and magnetic properties.
  • the powder produced by the curing step can alternatively be passed through the belt-type finish reduction furnace 124 to produce a reduced iron powder at 126 which is suitable for powder metallurgy.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates an X-ray analysis of the powder produced at 122. This X-ray analysis confirms this reoxidation.
  • a liquid with a high specific gravity of 2.6 or more is formed by using iron powder having such physical properties, depending upon the intended use.
  • the formation of a liquid having a high specific gravity of 3.2 is described below.
  • the ratio of the iron powder mixed with water is as follows:
  • This specific gravity liquid has a concentration by volume of 40% and a sufficiently low viscosity, while a specific gravity as high as 3.2 can be obtained.
  • the aluminium alloy contained in an engine block can be easily recovered by using a sink-float separation method.
  • the content of magnetic substances is as high as 98%, the iron powder can be recovered by means of a wet-type magnetic separator with substantially no loss if the product obtained by sink-float separation is washed with fresh water.
  • the iron powder liquid with high specific gravity has low viscosity and thus enables raw materials to rapidly settle or float and gravity separation can be achieved with little error occurring due to undesired movement of the materials.
  • the precision of this separation is extremely high compared with conventional separation methods using other media and liquids with high specific gravities.
  • the above-described aluminium recovery efficiency and contents of impurities in the recovered aluminium are much better than the above-described values for the Conventional Example which cannot be easily obtained by conventional methods.
  • the value of recovered aluminium depends to a significant extent upon the amount of impurities contained therein, i.e., the purity of aluminium.
  • the example of the present invention shows a reduction in the amount of impurities to a value one half or less that obtainable with conventional methods.
  • the specific gravity liquid has low viscosity and thus enables gravity separation of fine particles and separation of particles having a size down to 3 mm with high precision.
  • the high-specific gravity liquid obtained from a medium (the above-described fine solid particles) which is generally used has high viscosity and thus makes precise sink-float separation even of particles having a size of 5 to 6 mm difficult.
  • the separation method using the high-specific gravity liquid obtained from the above-described medium can be applied to almost all sink-float separators such as rotary drum-type, vertical wheel-type and screw sweeping-type separators regardless of the classes thereof.
  • this example concerns a liquid with a specific gravity of 3.2
  • the use of iron powder having a true specific gravity of up to 7.0 is feasible and liquids having specific gravities within the range of 2.6 to 3.5 can be formed by changing the ratio of iron powder mixed in.
  • Aluminium alloys as well as certain types of ore can be subjected to sink-float separation using a high-specific gravity liquid having a specific gravity of 3.5.
  • a liquid having a specific gravity of 2.6 or more is formed by using iron powder composed of fine particles having a size of 40 microns or less, depending upon the intended use, and various raw materials such as metals or ores are poured into the specific gravity liquid so as to be subjected to sink-float separation. Therefore, aluminium or an alloy thereof having a high specific gravity can be separated and concentrated with high precision from shredded automobile scrap or scrap derived from domestic appliances, and substances which cannot be separated by conventional methods can thus be separated.
  • the present invention enables separation and concentration of fine particles having a size down to about 3 mm, which is smaller than what can be separated by conventional methods, and offers the excellent effect that precise sink-float separation is possible.

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  • Separation Of Solids By Using Liquids Or Pneumatic Power (AREA)
  • Manufacture And Refinement Of Metals (AREA)
  • Sorting Of Articles (AREA)
US07/559,307 1988-04-15 1990-07-30 Gravity separation method using iron powder Expired - Fee Related US5147046A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP63092844A JPH01304059A (ja) 1988-04-15 1988-04-15 鉄粉を使用した比重選別方法
JP63-92844 1988-04-15

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US07492207 Continuation-In-Part 1990-03-12

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EP (1) EP0337361A3 (de)
JP (1) JPH01304059A (de)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20110198095A1 (en) * 2010-02-15 2011-08-18 Marc Vianello System and process for flue gas processing
CN115837315A (zh) * 2022-12-07 2023-03-24 四川安宁铁钛股份有限公司 弱磁性矿物沉降分离的方法

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9450759B2 (en) 2011-04-05 2016-09-20 Apple Inc. Apparatus and methods for controlling distribution of electronic access clients
CN108160305B (zh) * 2018-02-08 2019-10-18 韶关学院 一种混合金属粉末分离方法及所用气氛炉

Citations (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2203601A (en) * 1939-02-18 1940-06-04 Minerals Beneficiation Inc Separating fragmentary materials
US2206574A (en) * 1937-10-15 1940-07-02 Pearson Andrew Concentration of ores and other minerals by the sink and float process
US2942792A (en) * 1957-07-30 1960-06-28 American Smelting Refining Sorting of scrap metal
US3021288A (en) * 1959-04-15 1962-02-13 Permutit Co Ltd Manufacture of anion-exchange resins
US3454498A (en) * 1963-12-06 1969-07-08 Knapsack Ag Heavy pulp including particles of ferrochrome alloy having a smooth and spherical surface area
US3943061A (en) * 1972-05-09 1976-03-09 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Use of an iron/silicon/phosphorus-alloy in separation of minerals
US4319988A (en) * 1980-05-05 1982-03-16 Halomet, Incorporated Separation of high grade magnetite from fly ash
US4347124A (en) * 1980-06-24 1982-08-31 Nittetsu Mining Co., Ltd. Method and device of separating materials of different density by ferromagnetic liquid
US4432868A (en) * 1980-05-05 1984-02-21 Halomet, Incorporated Separation of high grade magnetite from fly ash

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
USRE22191E (en) * 1942-09-29 Gravity separation of ores
GB523459A (en) * 1938-12-30 1940-07-15 Andrew Pearson Materials and process for the production of heavy suspensions
US2393160A (en) * 1943-07-05 1946-01-15 Pittsburgh Crushed Steel Compa Separation of ores by the sink and float process
FR929486A (fr) * 1946-06-20 1947-12-29 Perfectionnements aux procédés de séparation et milieux pour la réalisation de ces procédés

Patent Citations (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2206574A (en) * 1937-10-15 1940-07-02 Pearson Andrew Concentration of ores and other minerals by the sink and float process
US2203601A (en) * 1939-02-18 1940-06-04 Minerals Beneficiation Inc Separating fragmentary materials
US2942792A (en) * 1957-07-30 1960-06-28 American Smelting Refining Sorting of scrap metal
US3021288A (en) * 1959-04-15 1962-02-13 Permutit Co Ltd Manufacture of anion-exchange resins
US3454498A (en) * 1963-12-06 1969-07-08 Knapsack Ag Heavy pulp including particles of ferrochrome alloy having a smooth and spherical surface area
US3943061A (en) * 1972-05-09 1976-03-09 Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft Use of an iron/silicon/phosphorus-alloy in separation of minerals
US4319988A (en) * 1980-05-05 1982-03-16 Halomet, Incorporated Separation of high grade magnetite from fly ash
US4432868A (en) * 1980-05-05 1984-02-21 Halomet, Incorporated Separation of high grade magnetite from fly ash
US4347124A (en) * 1980-06-24 1982-08-31 Nittetsu Mining Co., Ltd. Method and device of separating materials of different density by ferromagnetic liquid

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20110198095A1 (en) * 2010-02-15 2011-08-18 Marc Vianello System and process for flue gas processing
CN115837315A (zh) * 2022-12-07 2023-03-24 四川安宁铁钛股份有限公司 弱磁性矿物沉降分离的方法

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0337361A3 (de) 1991-05-15
EP0337361A2 (de) 1989-10-18
JPH0461692B2 (de) 1992-10-01
JPH01304059A (ja) 1989-12-07

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